Next week sees the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham … it runs from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th August … the Granary Studio will be there … we have a stand QIA24 where the students will talk to anyone interested in our classes…. I have creaed a book with images and details of the fun we have here, and a glimpse of our tutor team which now numbers 8!… hope to see some of you there, do pop by and say hello

Wow, what a summer… Clare Bullock came to teach at the Granary Studio for the first time … I went to Lizzie Houghton’s summer school in Penzance and made a fabulous nuno felt jacket in the round… Festival of Quilts came and went with lots of new opportunites, exhibitions and new students…. Hampshire Open Studios has just finished, with lots of lovely visitors and yet more new students.. Our registers are bursting at the seams so new classes have been added to the timetable… read on to see some details …

Caroline Bell has some new classes in the timetable ..her Autumn Eco printing class filled very quickly, so she is offering a slightly different Spring Eco printing class for those that couldn’t get onto the Autumn Eco, this is running Tuesday 18 and Tues 25 April 2017.. and several people visiting our open studios expressed a wish to do the basic two day Eco-printing class at the weekend instead of consecutive Tuesdays becaue they work full time, so, we have EcoPrinting weekend running on Sat 8th and Sun 9th July 2017 for you.
Caroline is also offering a second Eco-masterclass weekend which is running on Sat 17 and Sun 18 June 2017.. All these classes have spaces on at the moment

more of Carolines interesting bundles!

The image shows the nuno felt sample from her first class… everyone had a great time and she has now put in two new classes.. first of all..‘The Versatility of Felt’ will run on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 november 2016, where Clare will show a variety of different effects with felt.. and ‘3D felt’ which will run on Fri 10 and Sat 11 February 2017, where Clare will lead students through methods of creating 3 dimensional form with felt

Life Drawing with Mel Rose continues as usual with the second of the Beginners life days coming up on Saturday 10th September 2016… A new block of six for the advanced class starts on Thurs 15 September, this is a change from Monday evenings owing to other commitments for Mel and Me. I am hoping to persuade Mel to find time for a second less experienced group, but I know just how busy she is with lots of new opportunities coming up

My classes are also booking up fast …The first ‘Procion andProcess’ group has now finished all ten sessions and I am really pleased with the work they are now producing, with some of them going forward to study on the Independent Study class next year starting in February 2017…. my new group for ‘Procion and Process’ is signed up to start in February 2017 as well… as always I will take any new names for any of the classes, and start an extra class if it is required

The last session for this group was to learn about the use of Formosul for taking colour out of fabric, and some exciting effects were achieved in spite of the nasty smell of the chemicals!

Finally, I hope you have all had a great summer and are ready for the challenges of the term ahead… I hope you will sign up for classes with what I regard as the best tutors in their field.. always message me if there is a class or tutor out there that you would like to study with and I will do my best to facilitate it…. thanks for reading this and I will be back in touch soon with news of yet more new tutors hopefully, watch this space x

Caroline was busy creating wonderful fabrics at the Open Studios … she has a couple of classes coming up which still have spaces on …Indigo Queen of Natural Dyes, Caroline will introduce a natural indigo Vat together with the use of flour paste resist, such a relief to be able to achieve those wonderful blues without the use of toxic chemicals, this is running on Sat 15 and Sun 16 October 2016
And, a second Eco-Stitching day.. this was really good last time, Caroline leads you through putting lots of your samples together into a kind of collage and shows appropriate hand stitches for the piece… a gentle day with lots of time to chat and lovely results.. this is running on Tuesday 15th November 2016.. get in quickly to come to these two wonderful days with Caroline

Clare Bullock is returning to The Granary Studio to teach two more classes

Amande Hislop is coming to the Granary Studio for the first time, she is offering two different classes....’Abstracted Land’ will run on Thurs 25 and Fri 26 May 2017 and is described as an experimental workshop using landscape as a focus… Amanda typically uses a restricted colour palette of natural colours… her second class is ‘Using Sketchbooks as a Rich Resource..‘ which again will be an experimental adventure in drawing collage and mixed media .. this will run for three days on Thurs 28, Fri 29 and Sat 30 September 2017, and I am looking forward to taking part in this one if there is a small space in a corner somewhere!

Kim Thittichai may have nearly emigrated to Western Ireland but she is still coming to teach at the Granary Studio for the first time… Fri 9 June 2017 sees her teaching ‘On The Surface Plus!’ and Sat 10 and Sun 11 June 2017 she will be teaching ‘Transforming Transfers’. Both these classes are now fully booked but I am keeping a waiting list in case of cancellations or maybe even an extra class if there is a need

I am starting a brand new class called ‘Creative Textiles’ which will start on March 9 2017. It will generally be on the first Thursday in the month running in 5 session blocks. It will kind of replace the Contemporary Textile Workshop that ran at Eastleigh College in previous years… so .. design challenges for students to continue their pieces in between sessions …. and each set of five will have a different theme to start the sessions off. If you want to talk this through with me then don’t hesitate to contact me … it will be part teaching and part mentoring… should be fun!

The Autumn programme of classes is up on the website here, just click on the button classes across the top of the home page and you will be taken to the classes that are being offered this autumn/winter… I will be adding more as we go along , but , I have got this together because I am off to the festival of quilts tomorrow.. I will have my leaflets there so, if you are interested, contact me quickly …. i will take waiting lists for all the classes and offer further classes where i can…

i will be on stand QIA24 and also demonstrating on Art Van Go’s Artist in Action stand at the back of their main stand

Lynn has two courses starting shortly, with some spaces still left on each..Slow Stitching starts on Thursday 21st April for six weeks
‘During this course we will indulge ourselves with hand stitching. Throughout the course we will be experimenting with different threads, fabrics and stitches to create pages for a hand stitched book. There will also be a series of sewing related projects, needle case, pin cushion, scissor case etc. which you can complete at your leisure. Give them as gifts to your sewing friends or save them for yourself. Just come along and enjoy the pleasure of creating something by hand.’
and Modern Quilting starts on Thursday 2nd June for six weeks
‘An introduction to modern quilting and patchwork. Bold colours and simple backgrounds make stunning modern quilts. Lynn will introduce you to the different techniques used in patchwork, applique and quilting’COMING SOON! a programme of one day stitching workshops from Lynn, full details in the next newsletter and on www.granarystudio.com

A new 6 week block of Melanie’s Life drawing will be starting on April 7th. This session is now full but if you are interested in life drawing please let us know, as I keep a list of people interested in joining future classes… Watch this space for some other drawing and painting classes from Melanie in the near future. Please visit www.granarystudio.com for more information.

Susan is now collecting names for the next group of prospective students who wish to attend the Procion and Process classes, one group will run from October ’16 on the first Saturday in the month and the second will run from Feb ’17 on the first Sunday in the month. Also the next Independent Study group will run on the first Friday in the month from Feb ’17.COMING SOON! a series of one-day workshops related to dyeing and printing from Susan, full details in the next newsletter and on www.granarystudio.com

Kim Thittichai is coming to teach at the Granary in June 2017. She will be teaching two workshops.
Friday 9 June ’17 On The Surface Plus! A whole day for you to enjoy and explore all the techniques for surface decoration you have been wanting to try but haven’t yet found the time!
Create wonderful surfaces to stitch – or not!
Sat/Sun 10/11 June ’17 Transforming Transfers Explore the possibilities of transfer paints and crayons, creating startling colours on synthetics and more subtle effects on naturals. We will try resists, overprinting, layering and various ways of applying paint and crayons. Build a portfolio of delicious samples on an amazing array of fabrics.
For more information please visit www.granarystudio.com

Caroline Bell is returning to the Granary to teach a two day class 19 and 26 April using the new spring leaves and also a weekend masterclass 21/22 May.
COMING SOON! A day of ideas and stitching of the wonderful cloths produced in Caroline’s Eco Printing classes. For more information about all Caroline’s classes please visit www.granarystudio.com